


Reasonable Expectations

by pretentiouskneecap



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Fair Game Week (RWBY), Fair Game Week 2020, M/M, Post-V7, Semblances, the kids are kinda there too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23177962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretentiouskneecap/pseuds/pretentiouskneecap
Summary: From the moment he unlocked his semblance, Clover learned fast when to push his luck.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 100





	Reasonable Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> For Fair Game Week Day 1: Semblances (although you know there's flirting in there too)
> 
> T-rating for canon-typical violence. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy, and happy Fair Game Week!

From the moment he unlocked his semblance, Clover learned fast when to push his luck.

He had discovered right from the beginning how much the knowledge of his semblance could quickly change the way others treated him. From his reputation at Atlas Academy to his value in the eyes of Atlesian society, the public reveal of his ability inevitably altered how he was seen by those around him.

Clover had worked with huntsmen and huntresses of all types, from arrogant boasters to those who shone quietly, but every one of them took pride in their skill. No one got far in their profession without at least some degree of it to push them forward.

That pride was never more clear than when he’d become leader of the Ace Ops, balancing Vine’s quiet calm, Elm’s solidity, and Harriet’s ferocity. Eventually Marrow brought his passion to the mix as well, newer but all the more important to the team because of it. Clover learned early that there was nothing more devastating to a team dynamic than destabilizing it by making its members doubt themselves.

No one wanted to be on a team where their leader’s semblance received all the credit for their achievements.

So, he learned to channel his semblance after years of study and practice. Figured out how to push it through a pin so intrinsically tied to his skill and his name in order to make the link self-evident. Used the pin to make any use of his semblance obvious, so his teammates could always know when it had come into play. That way they would never have to doubt that any of their accomplishments were due to anything more than their own skill and practice.

Although Clover would be the first to charge in if he thought the situation called for it, he learned to lead from the back. To let others shine and be there to fill in the gaps.

Over the years, the knowledge that his semblance was passively active faded, a trivial fact forgotten or unknown to everyone but himself. The fact that he no longer _needed_ to use his pin to direct his luck, he’d reasoned, was better kept private.

None of this, however, meant that he didn’t occasionally use it that way to give others a bit of an edge. He hadn’t with the Ace Ops, didn’t want to undercut the faith he put in them as their leader. Yet sometimes, working with the newer recruits or less specialized members of the military, he would interfere if he felt it was warranted to make everyone’s lives a little easier.

Sharp claws swiped at his head, cutting off his musings. He snapped back into focus in time to duck and twist, landing strong on the opposite foot.

Throwing Kingfisher with a flick of his wrist, he sliced the beast’s leg at just the right angle to topple it with its own momentum, sending it right over to Qrow who had Harbinger tearing through its neck before it could recover.

The sounds of the battle came back to him in rush, the sharp whine of weapons alongside the dull thud of feet landing hard on the ground, all of it muffled by the roaring of the river carving into the sides of the ravine below them.

Clover didn’t let himself stop for long, throwing himself into move after move, grappling the Grimm and placing them in easy range for the others to finish off. The part of his mind that kept control of his semblance was a constant presence at the edge of his awareness, as comfortable and familiar as the grip of Kingfisher in his hand.

He focused on that part now.

Ignoring the instinct to brush the pin on his vest, he sharpened the feel of his semblance, gathering the power at the front of his mind and _pushing_ it outward toward Nora as she raced by. She swung her hammer high, smashing a Boarbatusk’s head to the side at just the right angle that its tusk caught the neck of the Beowulf beside it, both disappearing in an instant.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust in the kids’ abilities- far from it, in fact. They had more than proven themselves as huntsmen and huntresses, even defeating his old team back in Atlas, although the thought of his old teammates still stung. Yet their exhaustion was deep, evident in how Nora failed to revel in her double kill, in how Yang’s fighting banter had long since fallen away outside of necessary battle communication.

The trip to Vacuo had been more arduous than any of them had been prepared for. With the fall of Atlas, Grimm lurked around every corner, and they’d hardly begun to make headway. Clover wasn’t going to fault himself too harshly for doing what he could to end this battle quickly and give them all a break. For however long it would last.

Qrow’s sharp voice to his left brought him back again. He released the harpoon gun on Kingfishers’ other end, not needing to look behind him to know the Beowulf charging at his back was dead on impact. He braced himself for the momentum of the harpoon’s recoil as it retracted, using it to propel himself forward.

He coiled the line with the hook once more and twisted to launch it to the side as he brushed the pin on his chest. The tip snagged the plates of a Death Stalker mid-charge, slowing its momentum just long enough for Weiss to encase it in ice. He spared a moment to smile at her as she gave him a nod of thanks.

He gathered his semblance up around him, scanning the battlefield for other places he could push to turn the tide in their favor. He could sense Qrow still fighting to his left, the man’s own semblance a roiling fog that swirled at his feet, darting in and out at random, searching for weak points in the fabric of the world to pull into the open.

He wondered how Qrow perceived his own semblance. Clover’s conscious understanding of his ability had grown slowly, starting as little more than a small shove of instinct at the edges of his senses. As he’d gained more control over it, the feeling had become stronger and stronger until he could direct it at will.

His ability to sense Qrow’s had been much the same, a spark of interest when they’d met that he hadn’t fully understood at first, until it dawned on him as Qrow confessed what his semblance was in the mine.

At this point he was familiar enough with the way Qrow’s semblance felt that he could sense it almost as well as his own, as long as he focused on it enough.

The topic of their semblances was one Clover had wanted to discuss with Qrow at length more than a few times. He knew the man hadn’t yet managed to achieve complete control over his semblance and he had learned enough about Qrow to know how much pain that brought him. How he had isolated himself to protect others from what he considered the negative effects of being around him.

Clover wanted to offer to help Qrow to control his semblance, with whatever experience he could share. He assumed it was possible, taking into account how similarly his and Qrow’s semblances seemed to work, and how he could feel Qrow’s semblance like a perfect inversion of his own.

Clover was also acutely aware that getting control over his misfortune could be a huge step for the man in terms of how comfortable he felt around others, even on top of how far Qrow had already come in that aspect. He had seen firsthand how much Qrow adored spending time around his family, and it would be an honor to help however he could in making it easier for Qrow to do so.

Not to mention that achieving that level of control would make Qrow even _more_ of a formidable fighter.

If only he could figure out how to approach the topic without Qrow shutting him down. The other huntsman was noticeably evasive about the topic, rarely letting them get deeper than the level of their running joke. Clover wanted to help, but he was cautious about pushing too deeply into something that was associated with so much suffering.

And, he thought idly as a tug at the edge of his mind alerted him to Qrow’s semblance flaring, he really needed to stop getting sidetracked in the middle of a battle. If this was back in Atlas he’d be considering charging himself with a lack of professionalism in the field.

The crack and groan of a tree branch falling showed him where to direct his luck next. He could sense Qrow’s semblance as it dug sharply into the bark, splitting it from the trunk as the man himself dispatched a handful of Grimm nearby.

Jaune stood underneath it, not noticing the precarious nature of the branch amidst the chaos of the fight. Clover ran over, sliding underneath the paws of a Sabyr and sending his semblance toward Jaune.

The young huntsman scrambled back from a coiling King Taijitu, eventually finding solid footing in the roots of the tree. Throwing his shield across his body, he thrust his sword forward, just as the branch came down and split over the Taijitu’s head, the momentum slamming its snapping jaw right onto the blade until the point emerged from the other side.

Clover smiled at Jaune’s expression of satisfaction as he yanked the sword out and the beast disappeared into ash. He moved further on to the next group of Sabyrs, stumbling a bit as he threw Kingfisher up to block the teeth that slashed at his throat.

Clover cursed internally. Between the days of fighting, the lack of sleep, and the constant manipulation of his semblance, his aura was dropping faster than he had thought. He knew he wouldn’t be the only one struggling either. They needed to finish up quickly.

He dispatched the beast efficiently, panting as he took a moment to regain his bearings of the battle at hand. He had just begun to recover when a blur of black and white appeared in the corner of his vision, closing in faster than he could react. He braced his aura for the impact, focusing his semblance and praying that it would be enough to prevent any serious injury.

A body slammed into his from the side, and the two of them tumbled past the slashing claws of the Grimm overhead. Clover’s startled mind had a second to register flashes of graying black hair and red fabric to identify the person wrapped around him- _Qrow_ \- before their combined inertia tossed them down the side of the ravine.

He threw his hands up to protect the back of his partner’s head and neck. Qrow twisted sharply as they fell, positioning them so his aura would take the hit if they collided with the rocks. Clover flared what was left of his own aura, pushing his semblance outward as the cliff-face sped by, the two of them narrowly avoiding the sharp outcroppings embedded within.

A tug in his mind attracted his attention and he had Kingfisher’s line ready in hand in an instant. Bracing his other hand tightly against Qrow, he launched the line ahead of them, flaring his semblance with it.

The hook flew through the air for a moment before it caught against the trunk of a small tree emerging from the cliff. The line went taut as they flew by and they dangled in place for the space of a breath before the trunk snapped with a loud _crack._

The momentary pause in momentum stalled them enough for Qrow to whip out Harbinger’s scythe in a reverse grip as they dropped, stabbing it backward so the tip of it jammed into the rocks. The metal screeched as it was pulled down the side of the cliff until they fell in a heap on a flat stretch protruding below.

“You alright?” Qrow asked, head already up and scanning for any Grimm that might’ve pursued them.

Clover, on the other hand, was having trouble thinking past the roaring in his ears that matched the sounds of the river rushing below.

He had always assumed that Qrow, despite his slightly smaller build, must be well-muscled beneath all his layers of clothing. He had seen for himself how strong the man was, wielding a weapon like Harbinger easily in one hand, and no one got far as a huntsman without building some muscle, besides.

But it was one thing to understand something was true in theory and entirely different to have the evidence of it as a firm weight pressing down over his body.

Clover could feel warmth crawling its way up to his cheeks, and he tried to force himself to focus on anything other than Qrow’s body against his.

“ _Clover_. Are you alright?” Red eyes flashed to his, panic tightening Qrow’s features as the man struggled to get up and check him over. The part of Clover’s brain that was still a professional huntsman snapped back into action and he swiftly pressed a hand along Qrow’s back, stilling his movements.

“I’m fine, Qrow, I’m fine,” he said, hoping that Qrow wouldn’t think anything of the strain in his voice. He added in the last part as his partner eyed him skeptically. “Lucky we missed all those rocks on the way down, huh?”

Qrow scoffed at him, but the lines of stress on his face eased somewhat, so Clover was willing to call that a win. Qrow shifted his weight off Clover, gracefully swinging himself back to his feet. Clover tried not to feel too upset by the loss.

Looking up, he saw a hand reach in front of his face and he took it, allowing Qrow to pull him to his feet.

“You shouldn’t let yourself get that separated from the group,” Qrow scolded, glancing back at him as he yanked Harbinger out of the rocks, the whir of the gears signifying its transformation back to its compact form. “Your aura is getting low, you need to be more careful.”

Clover grinned at him, well aware at this point that this was just a manifestation of Qrow’s particular version of over-protectiveness and not meant as a judgement of his own capabilities.

“It’s held this far, hasn’t it? Besides, I’m not the only one whose aura could use a break,” he said, quirking an eyebrow at his partner. 

Qrow only turned away from him with a huff, evidently not inclined to answer as he transformed in a blink and flew back up to the top of the ravine where the sounds of fighting continued. Clover watched him go for a few seconds before using Kingfisher to follow.

"Running away from me?" He teased Qrow as he landed, the other huntsmen already back in human form.

He'd continued to let himself flirt with Qrow since they'd left Atlas, mostly because he was genuinely interested and he thought the man could use some positive attention. By this point, though, it had become such a habit he wasn't entirely sure he _could_ stop now without real effort.

Clover didn't really know where their little game was headed- didn't think either of them really knew- but he certainly had an idea of where he wanted it to go.

From the way he responded, Qrow seemed to enjoy his little compliments and teases as well, although Clover could probably count on both hands the number of times the man had actually returned the banter, let alone instigated it himself.

Clover couldn’t blame Qrow, really. With everything that had happened and nine teenagers to manage, it wasn't the best time to be figuring out the intricacies of a new relationship. Especially since Clover knew Qrow had years upon years of internalized negativity and self-imposed isolation to work through.

So, Clover was happy to wait until Qrow became more comfortable having even another friend his own age around before trying to talk to him about the topic of becoming anything more.

Which is why he was very pleasantly surprised when Qrow sent him a smirk and matched his tone. "Maybe I just wanted to watch you chase me."

Every thought flew out of Clover's brain immediately. He could feel his jaw drop just a bit as Qrow laughed and strode over to where his nieces were thankfully cleaning up the last of the Grimm. He distantly registered the bright sound of Ruby's excitement as she asked her uncle what he thought of their new team moves.

Clover felt a grin spread across his face. Maybe Qrow was a little closer to being ready than he'd thought.

But today wasn't the day to try and dig any farther. There would be plenty more time for that.

Clover did always know when to push his luck.


End file.
